A GOVERNMENT office has denied that it is easing the laws relating to public sexual activity, after Middleton parents complained about so-called 'cottaging' at a local beauty spot.

Parents alarmed about an increase in public homosexual activity in and around the Rhodes Lodges area are calling for arrests on the grounds of indecency.

But Greater Manchester Police say they receive 'relatively few complaints' about the problem, while a police spokesman added that laws on sexual activity in public places were soon to be relaxed. But the Home Office has denied this.

Several parents are becoming increasingly alarmed about the practice of so-called 'cottaging' in the Rhodes Lodges area, along with alleged male prostitution.

Some say they are worried about the danger such activities bring to the area, while others say they would be mortified if their children were to witness any sexual activity in broad daylight.

One mother has written a letter of complaint to the Guardian (see this week's postbag), while another complained at a meeting of the Middleton Environment Forum (MEF), last Wednesday.

Both women allege that they saw a man carrying on in a way that led them to believe he was a prostitute.

Each of the women claim they kept surveillance on the man in the Lodges car park, who appeared to be making calls on his mobile phone to 'punters'. 'Clients' would then arrive in cars and disappear with the man into the wooded area beyond the bridge, before re-appearing some time later.

The woman who spoke to members of MEF asked that the Guardian report on the issue, but not mention her name. She said she'd 'virtually stumbled' across the man during the Easter holiday, when he appeared to have been lurking in the bushes. In that instance, he'd been wearing nothing but a pair of shoes and a white G-string.

Other members of the public say they are concerned that there have been several attacks in the area and one unsolved murder - all of which seem to be related to homosexual activity.

Another mother said: "I don't care what people do in their own homes, but I want my children to learn about sex at the right time and in the right environment. I don't want to have to explain what two seedy little men are doing in the bushes with their trousers round their ankles."

A father who lives in Rhodes said: "There are fewer and fewer places we can let our children roam freely and enjoy their childhood. It's come to something that we can't even let our kids go fishing or messing about without coming across this sort of thing.

"What people get up to in private is their own business. But the bushes at Rhodes Lodges, in broad daylight, is not the time and certainly not the place."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government believes that sexual activity in public places can cause outrage or offence to those who see it. No-one should have to observe such activity as they go about their daily business.

"Our aim has always been to ensure that the law provides sufficient protection so that people don't have to witness behaviour they feel should take place in private.

"Currently, homosexuals are likely to be charged with buggery or indecency between men. It is these offences which are being repealed in the Sexual Offences Bill because they are discriminatory.

"But the existing common law offence of Outraging Public Decency covers all lewd, obscene or disgusting behaviour that outrages public decency.

"It is this law which has been used to prosecute people 'cottaging'. In addition, Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 adds further protection, in that it covers sexual activity within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.

"The Government is confident that between them, Outraging Public Decency and Section 5 of the Public Order Act are sufficiently flexible to cover unacceptable sexual behaviour in public."

Parents now intend to record car registration numbers of any people behaving suspiciously in the area, so that police can investigate.